“The second thing!” he added. “We propose to ourselves to obey in all things the legitimate ecclesiastical authority—”
Don Paolo Faré burst out, exclaiming: “That must depend!”
The vibration of sudden thought, the muffled rumbling of unspoken words, shook all present. Dane said slowly: “Exercised according to just principles.” The movement shrunk to a murmur of assent, and then ceased. Dane went on: “And now one thing more! Let there never be hatred of any one on our lips nor in our hearts!”
Don Paolo burst out again: “No, not hatred but indignation! ‘Circumspiciens eos cum ira!’”
“Yes,” said Don Clemente in his sweet, soft voice; “when we shall have enthroned Christ within us; when we shall feel the wrath of pure love.”
Don Paolo, who was near him, made no answer; he looked at him, his eyes suffused with tears, and, seizing his hand, carried it to his lips. The Benedictine drew back, startled, his face aflame.
“And we shall not enthrone Christ within us,” said Giovanni, much moved, and pleased with the mystic breath he seemed to feel passing over the assembly, “If we do not purify our ideas of reform through love; if, when the time comes to operate, we do not first purify our hands and our instruments. This indignation, this wrath of which you, Don Paolo, speak, is really a powerful snare which the evil one uses against us; powerful precisely because it bears the semblance of virtue and sometimes, as is the case with the saints really has the substance of virtue. In us it is nearly always pure malevolence, because we do not know how to love. The prayer I love best, after the Pater Noster, is the prayer of Unity, which unites us all in the spirit of Christ, when He prays thus to the Father: ‘Ut et ipsi in nobis unum sint.’ The desire and hope are always strong within us of a union in God with those of our brothers whose beliefs separate them from us. Therefore say now whether you accept my proposal to found this association. First discuss the question, and then, if the proposal be accepted we will examine the means of promoting it.”
Don Paolo exclaimed impetuously, that the principle needed no discussion; and Minuccì observed, in a submissive tone, that the object of the meeting was known to all before they came; therefore, by their presence, they had implied their approval and their willingness to bind themselves together in a common action; the question of ways and means remaning still undecided. Abbé Marinier asked permission to speak. “I am really very sorry,” he said smiling, “but I have not brought even the smallest thread with which to bind myself. I also am one of those who see many things going wrong in the Church. Still, when Signor Selva carefully explained his views to me (first at supper and then here), views which I had not clearly understood from my friend Professor Dane’s explanation, certain objections, which I consider serious, forced themselves upon me.”
“Exactly,” thought Minucci, who had heard how ambitious Marinier was; “if you look for promotion, you must not join us;” and he added aloud: “Let us hear them.”
“In the first place, gentlemen,” the clever Abbé said, “it seems to me you have begun with the second meeting. I may say, with all due respect, that you remind me of a party of good people who sit down to a game of cards, and cannot get on because one holds Italian, one French, another German cards, and therefore they cannot understand one another. I have heard unanimity of opinions mentioned; but there exists perhaps among us rather a unanimity of negative opinions. We are probably unanimous in believing that the Catholic Church has grown to resemble a very ancient temple, originally of great simplicity, of great spirituality, which the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries have crowded with superfluities. Perhaps the more malicious among you will say that only a dead language may be spoken aloud in this temple, that living languages may only be whispered there, and that the sun itself takes on false colours when it shines through the windows. But I cannot believe we are all of one mind as regards the quantity and quality of the remedies to be applied. Therefore before initiating this catholic freemasonry, I think it would be wiser to come to an understanding respecting these reforms. I will go even farther; I believe that, were it possible to establish perfect harmony of opinion among you, it would still be inexpedient to bind yourselves together with visible fetters, as Signor Selva proposes. My objection is of a most delicate nature. You doubtless expect to be able to swim in safety, below the surface, like wary fishes, and you do not reflect that the vigilant eye of the Sovereign-Fisherman, or rather Vice-Fisherman, may very easily spy you out, and spear you with a skilful thrust of the harpoon. Now I should never advise the finest, most highly flavoured, most desirable fishes to bind themselves together. You will easily understand what might happen should one be caught and landed. Moreover, you know very well that the great Fisherman of Galilee put the small fishes into his vivarium, but the Great Fisherman of Rome fries them.”